Defective
by shannyfish
Summary: Jeremiah tries to remind Kara that different isn't so bad. Summer of Supergirl prompt: Different DNA


**Author's Note:** I'm not 100% that this will make sense, but here it is anyways.

The second scene has dialogue from the flashback from "Manhunter", but it seemed like it fit too perfectly not to use it.

* * *

"I'm defective."

"You know that's not true."

Kara looked right at him and even though his words were sincere, calm, and gentle, she knew that he didn't quite understand. She knew that Kal-El had placed her with the Danvers because Eliza and Jeremiah had helped him with his powers, that they were good people, and that they would be able to understand how to help her with her powers as she grew...that didn't mean that they understood her. "I wish I could just turn it all off," Kara admitted in frustration. "I can't even get through an entire day at school, I embarrass Alex, and everyone looks at me like I'm some kind of freak."

"No one thinks you're a freak-"

Her eyes didn't leave his. "I have super hearing, Jeremiah," she reminded.

"Oh," he whispered and looked away for a moment. "You know, you're right...I don't understand." He looked back at her, a smile on his face. "That doesn't mean that I won't try to help you, though...or _try_ to understand what you're going through."

"My x-ray vision is so hard for me to control."

"I think I have an idea for that."

"To turn it off?"

"To try to help you have more of a normal life without that power flickering," Jeremiah told her. "You know, I know that you were sent here to protect your cousin...and though that mission is something that isn't needed to be completed now...I just want you to think about the fact that these powers might be something you want later."

"But I'm supposed to be normal."

Jeremiah smiled. "You sound so much like Alex."

"Am I back talking? Or being angsty? Those are things that Alex says parents think we do as teens," Kara explained with clear confusion.

"You're never going to be normal, Kara...and neither is Alex," Jeremiah said. "No matter how much Eliza and I shield you from the world, you two are destined to be something great in the future."

"But-"

"You'll learn how to control your powers, Kara," Jeremiah promised. "Eventually...when the time is right...and only if you want to." She patted her shoulder. "You know, Earth might have Superman, but it might need someone else one day...and your cousin just might need your help…"

"You think so?"

"I think that anything is possible."

* * *

Life wasn't any easier.

Alex had been hurt.

It was _her_ fault.

Kara hadn't meant for any of it to happen and she felt even worse that Alex got hurt because of her, she'd only meant to do good...to save people. Jeremiah had told her it would all be fine, that Alex would be fine, but all Kara could think about was how she'd been the worst sister. She had been trying so hard since she'd been placed with the Danvers. It had been more than just trying to act like a human, but also in accepting her place in the Danvers family.

On Krypton she'd been the beloved _only_ daughter of Alura and Zor-El. Her cousin was only an infant when they left a dying Krypton, so she wasn't really used to the idea of having a sibling. She also was struggling still with her grief over the loss of her family, her people, and her planet. Being on Earth was difficult, mainly because she couldn't actually really be herself...she couldn't speak Kryptonese or talk about her heritage or well, anything… It was so difficult to feel like she was trapped in this prison where she could never be herself.

As she sat out on the bench, staring out at the ocean, she was having a difficult time keeping herself from falling apart. She'd promised her parents that she'd protect Kal-El on Earth and now that wasn't something she could do. Now, she was supposed to be part of the Danvers family and to fit in on Earth. It wasn't easy with powers that she couldn't control, but it also wasn't easy being a good sister she was finding out.

Running her fingers along the smooth surface of her mother's pendant, her thoughts going to try to figure out what her mother would say if she were there to counsel her. She knew that she had a duty...but she also was a daughter of The House of El and she felt like she was betraying her heritage by suppressing it.

"Alex had to get some stitches, but she's going to be okay," Jeremiah said, pulling her from her thoughts. He had a smile on his face and he moved to sit beside her on the bench. "Listen," he said a moment later with a sigh. "Doing what you can do makes you special, but it's not safe." He was leaning forward now, his fingers interlocking, but his face on her as he spoke. Kara knew that the reason why he was saying this was because of his concern for her. "Those kids, their parents, they're all wondering how a little girl pulled off that rescue today. We told them that you got lucky, but that excuse will work once."

She felt even worse than before because Kara wasn't a small child, she knew exactly why Jeremiah was concerned. He was concerned about her safety, but he was also concerned about the safety of the Danvers family. "I'm sorry," she apologized truthfully.

"I know you were only trying to help, but the world already has a Superman. All you need to be is Kara Danvers." He reached out and touched her arm in a comforting gesture. "I made these for you," Jeremiah told her a moment later. He pulled out a pair of plastic rimmed glasses and held them up. "The frames are lined with lead. They'll suppress your vision, help you fit in." She reached out and accepted the frames and took a beat to inspect them. "They'll make your life...easier."

Unsure if this was actually going to work or not, she slowly pulled them on and into place. It took a moment, but she could already tell that these glasses were going to help her with her x-ray vision power. "Thank you," she whispered.

"You are quite welcome," Jeremiah replied with a bright smile.

Turning to look out at the ocean once again, she sucked in a breath and realized that even though the new glasses added a weight to her face that she wasn't used to...it was a comforting weight because she knew what it meant for her life. Since coming to Earth, she'd felt out of place (and she still did), but it was obvious that the Danvers were doing everything they could to make her feel less imperfect. "Do you think Alex is going to be upset with me?"

"No."

"I embarrass her in front of her friends."

"You know, you might have super powers because of our son," Jeremiah told her as she looked over at him as he spoke. "The thing is...Alex is strong...almost super humanly so."

"Alex hasn't said she has a super strength power-"

Jeremiah let out a short laugh. "Okay, not a literal power. It's...it's something in here," he tried to explain as he pointed to his chest where his heart lie underneath. "A strength where she tries to hold the weight of the world on her shoulders…" Kara still didn't quite follow. "It's a metaphor…"

"Metaphors are complicated."

Jeremiah just smiled at her. "So are a lot of things, Kara."

"Like life?"

"Like life," he said with a nod. "And I will always be here to help un-complicate things...we all will...Eliza and Alex too. You're not alone and you're not defective. You remember that. Promise me?"

"I promise," Kara said as she ran her fingers along the side of her frames. It was more than just one promise that she was making in that moment.

* * *

The End.


End file.
